Woh been in Adelaide for 5 days now. Anyway i love it here. Seriously a nice place, but now i get it the price here are not to complain about, numerically is abt the same in Malaysia although everyday essential goods are either more compare to us, but when you x3 then you know how cheap our cost of living in Malaysia is. Well just my piece of opinion, i notice now that when you board for MAS you straight off go to the plane, last time you can check in early, then they announce you can board the plane starting with ppl wit children then business/first class and so on. When we went to the check in in the gate, they put the wrong flight number! so i assume i was not my flight and was sitting close by the gate and ppl were queuing alot there! so 45 mins before boarding i asked around and they said that the flight was to Adelaide! And was kinda pissed coz the queues were LONG and when the announcement was made the queue was already too LONG. Obviously some Aussies boarding the flight were pissed coz of misinformed and also not to mention they only open the 2nd gate 20 mins before boarding. Anyway be there early to check in, when i went there with my mom who followed me to Adelaide, the lady in the counter did gave me and my mum extra 5 kg each hence total 50kg. My hand luggage itself was 20kg which is 10kg more than allowed ..... Anyway if any of your family members have a Golden Club Membership with MAS then USED IT!
My check it baggage was 2 kg more, and they asked for like RM1xx, my mom plead with her to just 'let it go'. And my dad was like kinda pissed too, then at the end out comes the golden card, after that all was settle. So anyway your hand luggage should cover your extras just make sure it's the right size and that you can ACTUALLY carry it with you.

Anyway University of Adelaide is a nice Uni, i'm happy i made the right decision. But the weather here is kinda crazy for me, it's not cold but the wind can hammer you here real easy so best to buy a nice jacket to keep you warm.
And public transport here is real easy to used, although at first it looks confusing by after you get used to it then it will be 2nd nature to you.
Anyway something i learn also is that come early to the city where you're studying, at least my Uni has alot of activities going on here, which will surely jam packed your schedule, they have a lot of workshops, seminars and talks to get you settle in here. And btw there's alot of ASIAN shops/restaurant here but so far i haven't taste any thing that's good to my taste.

Btw, i'm just wondering my accomodation provides free internet services with 1.5GB data, i can of course apply for a 3rd party ISP, but i'm just wondering do i have to 'activate' my telephone line by telstra? if so how much does it cost? and do i have to pay to disconnect the line after i'm off to go somewhere else? And do i have to have a telephone connection with telstra and also is there a time period for telephone line being 'active' meaning it must be active for 6 months?

Anyway thanks a lot for the answer.

This post has been edited by december88: Feb 15 2008, 10:02 AM

I hope i don't regret opening an account with Bank of South Australia(a division of St George Banks) under the Student account.
Basically my account have no interest but all free transaction using their services (ATM,BPay and etc). But the lady told me i can 'park' my cash in another account that pays 6.75% p.a. and the interest will be there regardless how many withdrawals i made from it, i'm a bit gray when it comes to banking but probably i will study this matter more into details. Anyway online banking is the norm here it seems, here you can do all your banking at their office or branch using their computer and phone for free, which is good. Here in Adelaide there is a lot of Banks, almost all the major banks are covered here and within walking distance from King William Street and esp. Rundle Mall, so withdrawal via ATM is no problem.


Those who wants to buy fresh food i recommend going to Central Market since it's BIG, a lot of foods, fruits on offer and it's just near by Chinatown, just take the 99C Loop bus(its free) in North Terrace, make sure you wait at the right bus stop, the bus driver WILL NOT stop if you raise your hand at the WRONG BUS STOP.

Anyway have a great weekend guys. I'm off to Rundle Mall!

ok la, yesterday and today fine weather, light shower and cloudy, at least it will be 22 -27 till Monday. But Adelaide seriously dry and hot when it's sunny and windy like crap when it's cloudy. Wanna go take a walk aso must think twice. I'm staying in Highgate, 30 mins by bus to North Terraces.

The weather is nice now. Hope i continues into O-week.

mooze, you bring so many food man.......
Anyway all the best during quarantine. My advice would be make sure all your food stuffs are easy to open from your luggage when they inspect your foods. And with the amount of stuff you bring in i'm pretty sure they will inspect the ingredient of your stuff. My mom did brought 30+ packs of 3 in 1 Nescafe to Adelaide which we declare and was subsequently seized cause the lady told us that the 'milk' inside the pack was not permitted in Aussie but if the packs was from Singapore then they will allow it. Nvr the less my mom was kinda pissed. And beware of your laptop make sure no kiddie ahem. This month along in Adelaide airport 3 air crews were arrested for illegal possession of that 'things' and they were fined heavily by the court here.

Anyway just for ppl who wants references. I went to Telstra and asked abt internet connection:

Open Line Connection= $59 (1 time payment, if you have the telephone line socket in your place, if you don't then it's $299 and they will install the socket for you)
Rental per month for the line= $ 19.95
And no contracts required and you don't have to have telephone or internet service with them.


Anyway regarding airfare, is it not that almost 20% of your airfare are airport tax from KLIA?

i'm not too sure abt pati ayam, but they are really serious in protecting their agriculture industry but you can try your luck of course.
Anyway here they have all asian stuff esp. in Central Market albeit kinda expensive too be honest. Shampoo all ok, in fact i will recommend everybody to buy their toiletries stuff from Malaysia instead of here.

sure can can, i bought 1 liter of shampoo in my luggage . On laptop it depends, most likely NOT, coz when you go with MAS with the Boeing 777, is like 300+ passenger, so i doubt custom will check it although they have the right to do so i think, i was so scared that they will rampas my 100+ burned DVD that i bought with me, but yeah everything went smooth. For Laptop better hand luggage, if you're clean then no need to worry. as far as i know when you arrive they don't scan anything except during the quarantine thingy if you declared you brought nth then they will scan all your luggage to make sure you are telling the truth. if you declared you bring something then they hand search your stuff esp. foods.

Anyway don't covert any foreign currency here, since every conversion you do they will charged $7 dollar each for each currency, my mom changed US Dollar and EURO and was charged 14 dollars for that. Anyway bring enough cash to sustain you for 2 - 4 weeks, open an account ASAP , and then wire transfer the rest of the fund to aussie, wire transfer gives you more values compare to foreign cash deposit i found out. Anyway bring AUD there don't be silly to convert it, since you gonna lose alot of values. Anyway just be careful wit your money there make sure it's with you 100% and take a taxi to town if you wanna be safe.

yup i agree with you, certain banks or forex generally don't display Malaysian Ringgit conversion on the board instead they check it in their computer lolz.

mooze you can always learn how to cook mate, but seriously you bought quite alot to Aussie. Anyway don't despair, Adelaide has a lot to offer here, it's just finding the right place.

This post has been edited by december88: Feb 23 2008, 08:12 AM

Hmm, go to your Student Centre and ask them lol, but the Fringe is coming most shows are free esp. on weekend, and also a music festival is coming real soon, 4 days of music from around the world the cost is $130 for 4 days if i'm not mistaken. Or you could go to Borders at Rundle Mall and camp there and read! Lol that's what i did, they got pretty nice selection of books. Anyway my thoughts or you could go to the Botanic Garden from North Terrace heading East. Anyway most cultural things are free in adelaide esp. the Museum, Art Gallery but i doubt they open on Sunday, or you can hit the beach and cuci mata.

BigPond sux man, worth the money if you bundle it with other services, but then again you pay Telstra even for your ISP services, so yeah it sux, if you live in Metro area then you have more choices. Can't wait to get my ADSL2+.

i agree with you in that, not to mention that the aussie ppl pay more taxes almost comparable to other countries, so it's fair that they invest in their own ppl cause at the end of the day, it is them(local students) that's gonna supplement the tax system for the pension/welfare and etc in the future.

yeah man i agree with you, unless you're sponsored by the malaysian goverment then you have no choice but to work there, i'm just like you a global citizen. And when i choose to study overseas my mom told me clearly that i don't come back to Malaysia to work here and go get your PR straight off, which at 1st i feel a bit offended since i want to work in Sarawak, but yeah for me probably it's the better choice and i felt fortunate enough to have the opportunity to study overseas with my parents $$$. And btw i also hav a friend who study in melbourne and his dad bought an apartment which is like 2 mins walk to the university i also asked him either he's looking to come back and work in Malaysia, he said 'for what work there', so i assume his older brother who's a med. student will not come back to work in Malaysia. Btw if you read today's paper 'The Age', there was an editorial regarding the election in Malaysia and not to mention the references regarding the richest chief minister in Malaysia. Anyway i may not work in Malaysia, but my state Sarawak will always be in my heart and also the people there who deserve MUCH MORE from the state government.

welcome to Adelaide man, you came at the right time, weather is perfect and not too hot anyway enjoy Adelaide. hey mooze i noticed we're doing the same course mate. i didn't see you today during the preliminary classes.

Lolz, hate that happening man, we both have diff. view in this, at least we agree then we are better off without the west. we could be just like brunei sadly .......

ya man, seriously when they say no limit cap it means reduced speed.




Be warm, ones you learn the big bike is kinda hard NOT to ride it every single hour, i got my B-Full(500cc above) license last year and i'm hooked on big bikes, everyday see those Adelaide's dudes with their bikes makes me wanna buy one ........
If you live near by your uni, i guess a scooter should be ok.

sry, all the above except administration, i prefer a secular goverment and of course an efficient check and balance agency that is independent of the goverment like an onbudsman system. anway brunei health care is giler good, last time i went to a private hospital in Damansara visit my grandma, and this brunei's women was having an operation there and she stayed in a 5-star hotel all paid for by the goverment, anyway she was a nice lady, of course brunei could afford that since they have a low population and not to mention none of theirs citizen pay income taxes, now imagine sarawak with all those hydro energy and also our 'virgin' land that's suitable for palm oil. Man ...surely our people could be better off without the west, anyway 'he' stayed too long on power ...... and beside he rule and divide, headache la sarawak politics, even the Iban's can't seem to work together.
Anyway i read the age newspaper today, and the Monash University VC was complaining abt the goverment scheme abt getting rid of full-fees for domestic student and replacing it with HCES scheme, and also he point out regarding losing international students to other countires because of the Vic. goverment refusal for public transport concenssion rate for international students there.

This post has been edited by december88: Feb 28 2008, 09:25 AM

hmmm ....... i wish but i nvr imply that but obviously west more superior than us ........... haya i appreciate your view. KVReninem totally agreed with you, lets talk abt aussie now instead of the motherland. , what haya said is correct, NZ broadband are very very expensive and it's not value for money compare to Aussie. Hey i thought they hav a 3rd cable from Western Australia to SEA ?

i'm there. but yeah i'm not gonna get my ADSL2+ since i have to pay $299, which is RM900 ringgit ><. Anyway i wanna go Bradford Lodge if possible since it's only $59 ...anyway yeah i'll wait and see.

Yes true, home ownership here is an obssesion and is kinda expensive compare to Malaysia.

Regarding wireless, the vodafone deal is really enticing 5GB/$39 permonth at 24 months contract. That's what i hate the most ,contracts , and not to mention uploads and downloads are counted as one. But if you look at the fine print esp. with no contract 5GB is more than $39 permonth, nvr the less, take wireless if YOU SERIOUSLY need the internet. My program alone is depended heavily on the availability of internet for online courses and also notice board and email, and also the wonderful wikipedia for my maths to brush up my basics, so 1.5 GB permonth provided by my accomodation is really not bad plus 500MB by my Uni for 6 months period, so for browsing is ok.
Anyway i'll take landline connection than wireless, only for the right price .....

Stay in the cool sweet library, lolz, my hostel has a wire trip twice this past 2 weeks bcoz the air con were overloading the power grid. But today is a nice day, windy and cold. just the way i like it.

come adelaide uni libarary. ^^ free to enter but you can't borrowed books sadly if you're not a student. Anyway cheers.

well depends, high tech lecture theatre has like at least 4 cameras, angled at different direction(of course you can changed the position of the each individual camera). So i guess it's just fixed up to the wall and records everything if you want it.
Here in my uni of adelaide, the flentje lecture theatre has like 4 computer screens on the lecturer's bench.

haya, well at least i'm lucky in my programme at least 3 Malaysian doing the same programme as me, and also another is a Sarawakian so which is good, anyway KVReninem you're right there's alot of sarawakian here.


snowcandy yup nice weather till Monday! Anyway Happy Easter people, heaps of assigment to do and also academic readings for me. phew.....

i think queensland did a referendum and the ppl voted it down. I'm not too sure if that was the end of the story. Anyway 6th april adelaide gonna be +8.5 hours behind London. yeah can watch EPL early.

cover the rent minimum 20 hours per week ? well hmm, i guess you should check the minimum wage in victoria, oddly enough in South Australia it's ~$13 per hour and it decreases if you're younger than 20 or 21. Go www.ato.gov.au for tax rate. Earn $6000 or less no tax, more than $6001 to $30000(i think) then it's 15%. Man good luck with working man. i can't see myself working plus studying.

haya - i'm doing petroleum engineering at uni adelaide. sry reply late, been bz with uni assignment. Anyway have a nice day.

Ok just wanna ask a question here especially responsibility wise in employment in Aussie under student visa.

Lets say you work ILLEGALLY (no black & white record of your employment) BUT you have a working visa attached to your student visa and the employer just wanna rip you off by paying below the minimum wage remuneration. (hence the black & white terms). Provided the individual did not exceed his/her 20 hours per week condition, what if: You met a serious accident ?
so ...
i)do the employer have a responsibility to cover your medical expenses?
ii) can you claimed from your insurances ?

yeah i was thinking abt the same thing.
Anyway thx chris_c28 and zltan. i do agree that employer will want to keep you quiet, if the general public finds out then probably customers will shun the place. Anyway thx again.

DLS gonna end this saturday, feel closer to malaysia now(time wise)

good luck wit that, my engineering course 1st sem is like mayhem. 18 hours for odd weeks and 23 hours even week. very very hectic, wished i stay near my uni, i guess that would be better, just walking distance.

true, maths assignments are a real killer. commerce ppl hav it real easy(i mean schedule wise), one of my mates is like so care-free, go uni 3 times a week. haih ..... i wish i could do that too.

i respect them, is hard enough for them to make ends meet, and some of them are really really hard working ppl, anyway the reality is we're all competing against the whole world for jobs.

website? don't go website unless last resort, cheapest i heard so far was $260 per-month from one of my mates here. My advices ask around, ask your friend, look at notice board aroud your campus. Expensive? well hmmm wat do you expect ........ people here earned in aussie dollar man.